OK Higher Ed Worried by Potential Shortfall
Higher ed may face $24 million shortfall unless Legislature picks up the tab on debt restructuring
BY WAYNE GREENE World Senior Writer
Sunday, April 14, 2013
OKLAHOMA CITY – A $23.95 million higher education budget hole has state higher education officials worried they might end up taking the hit for a financing scheme to get the state through a tight budget cycle three years ago.
“This would be devastating,” said University of Oklahoma President David Boren. “I think we’re to the point that we simply cannot absorb anymore cuts without really impacting quality.”
In 2005, the Legislature passed a $475 million bond issue to finance 145 projects at 29 state campuses.
In the Tulsa area, the bonds helped pay for a parking garage and library at OU-Tulsa; completion of the Helmerich Advance Research Center at Oklahoma State University-Tulsa; a distance learning center and math and science building for Tulsa Community College, and classroom and parking additions to Northeastern Oklahoma State University-Broken Arrow.